The Most Dangerous Player on The Tour
by shallowness
Summary: Speculation about what next for the most dangerous player on the tour. Tennis AU. Spoilers through Dark Phoenix.


Spoilers for the movie and previous in the alternate timeline movies.

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What next for the most dangerous player on the tour?

From Our Tennis Correspondent, Moira Mactaggert.

That is the question on everyone's lips regarding Jean "Phoenix" Grey as tennis arrives at the prestigious New York Open, one of the sport's four tentpole championships. Having dramatically split from her long-time coach Charles Xavier, just after the amazing comeback at the Houston Open that gave her new nickname, the distinctive red-headed world No. 1, aged 26, is looking for a new coach as she seeks to consolidate her position.

Grey, touted as one to watch from as early as age 8 and who exploded on the pro circuit as a teenager, has been seen in the company of several contenders, including the mysterious blonde-haired Margaret Vuk. Little is known of her, but what she is believed to be a proponent of the power play Grey is so good at. But the young American has also been practicing at Erik Lensherr's Genosha facilities. Once the bad boy of tennis, the occasional coach now mainly stays at his island-based academy. When he set it up, this was seen as a riposte to the Xavier Tennis Academy, where Grey learned her trade along with other stars like the cerebral Hank McCoy, Scott Summers of the deadly forehand and young world no. 2 Ororo Munroe. If anyone has the talent to draw Lensherr back onto the tennis circuit, it could be Grey.

Grey has not just turned her back on the coach widely credited for building the mental side of her game, as well as the physical but on a whole tennis family. This is another hit for XTA, which until very recently was high in the tennis stratosphere. First, the academy and the tennis world tragically lost Raven 'Mystique' Darkholme. The champion, most respected for her disguise and ability to wrong-foot opponents, recently passed away. Grey and Monroe both cited her as the reason they picked up a racquet, and as her illustrious career wound down, Darkholme played mentor to both women and to other young players, such as Kurt Wagner.

While it is right that we focus on Darkholme's achievements, as will be done at a special ceremony honouring her memory on the first day of the New York Open, her career did have its ups and downs. Starting out as a pro, she made her mark in Cuba, whilst a blonde. But she too turned her back on her foster brother and coach in juniors Xavier to play doubles with Lensherr for a while. Their intensity on the court made them a formidable team, but it didn't last long. She went solo, eschewing a coach. Perhaps she is most famous for her run in Paris, sporting red hair and a distinctive blue bodysuit, she beat her opponent almost on one leg. She then returned to XTA and rekindling an off-court relationship with Hank McCoy. "I play tennis my own way," she famously said, and always encouraged younger female players to follow suit.

This brings us back to our original question: what will Jean Grey do? The power play she has recently displayed has been unplayable, and it seems as if nobody on the tour can stop her. Lightning-fast Monroe doesn't have the same weight of shot, and talented up-and-comer Jubilation Lee had no answers in their last meeting. Indeed, if Grey chose to play mixed doubles, most wise male players would wish to avoid facing her. But it appears that she has split from her regular partner, in tennis and in life, Summers, and has only entered for the singles, so male players can breathe easier.

All these changes in her life raise intriguing questions. One can only speculate, but Grey's recent reunion with her father, after a long separation from one of the dread 'tennis dad' species, must have been emotional. Whether Darkholme's sudden death had anything to do with Grey's split from Xavier, Summers and the academy or not, it means that the favorite and no. 1 seed will be entering the New York Open Emma Frost arena without her usual support team. Can she control her emotions in one of tennis's greatest arenas? Experts believe that Grey's greatest opponent will be herself, not another player. Who will she turn to to help her win and cement her position as the best player in the world? Vuk, Lensherr or somebody else entirely? Will she follow Darkholme's example and still emulate her success or surpass it? It's all everyone will be talking about in the women's locker room.


End file.
